Canyon Creek 4P XDM 5.25 9mm

[rsa-otc]

A lot of people in my area do good work with the XD platform. The only negatives I have found are, in the 45 acp platform they absolutely choke on semi-waddcutters. This I have personally experienced when trying an employee's gun with my ammo. At the time I was choosing between the XD or M&P platforms to replace my ultra high round count 645 as my IDPA CDP gun. The way the magazine presents the next round to the chamber causes the empty case to catch on the semi-wadcutter's shoulder preventing the empty case from ejecting. If you don't ever want to shoot semi-waddcutters this isn't an issue but at the time 200 grain SWC were my preferred load making the XD a no go for me.

The only other issue I have personally witnessed was in a sanctioned match where a fellow squad member's XD kept choking. David Olhasso who was also on our squad pointed out a broken pin, I don't remember which. He also remarked that it is a common breakage. Since Dave has won at least one National Championship with the XD before moving to S&W I'll take his word for it being a problem. Springfield may have addressed the issue by now.

As long as you keep these two things in mind I think the XD is a very shootable platform. My take on the pin issue is that it is a routine maintenance issue. Change the pin like you would springs you should be golden. In fact one of my sons has 2 XDs, a XD40 subcompact and a XDM 5.25 in 9mm both of which he loves.

[HCM]

The potential of the XDs seem to be marred not so much by how well they shoot, but by how well they stay together-at least in serious LEO trials to date. And if/when they experience vicissitudes, how timely repairs can be effected due to the protracted supply line stretching from Springfield to Croatia.

And then there's the grip safety operation/limitations which can make it effectively limit its LEO desirability (among others).

I don't own one, and I don't hate them. I have a number of friends in IDPA that shoot them extremely well. Personally, however, if I'm going to go with an "outlier" pistol/platform, I'd be far more inclined to play with a Cee Zed PO7 or PO9, or one of the FN FNS variants. Realistically, I'm trying to withstand the siren song of tempting outliers, and concentrate on my Glocks (and, for a significant part of the year, my personal bete noir, my 1911s...

But kudos to you for running one and reporting the good/bad/ugly.

Best, Jon

Could be. We see quite a few of them come through the lab, and almost all of them are stolen pistols.

I'm like you; I don't like them, but I don't hate them. Their grip shape is actually quite good, and they are a "comfortable" shooter. But the fact that the grip safety must be depressed to work the slide is a BIG killer for a serious pistol, IMO. Think malfunction clearance techniques under less-than-ideal conditions.

.

XD's are far more popular than Glocks in the typical American gun owner circles.

The comments above sum up my experience with and observations of XD's.

Looking at the XDM and XDS it seems Springfield and their Balkan supplier are trying to improve the platform instead of declaring "perfection". My understanding is the slide of the XDS can be worked without the grip safety being depressed. Any feed back on the durability of the XDM/XDS vs the original XD ? Any difference in durability between calibers ?

[45dotACP]

I'll just note that at a local USPSA match I just shot today, XDMs outnumbered Glock 34s...also, more than two of six or seven of them choked. Light strikes were the main issue, and I have no doubt it was due to some confluence of lightened striker springs and hardened russkie ammo. They were nearly as finicky as the 2011s.

I've officially decided they're not for me.